


SF18: Kuroko no Basuke

by ewagan



Series: Sportsfest 2018 [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Magical Realism, Multi, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ewagan/pseuds/ewagan
Summary: Kuoko no Basuke fills for Sportsfest 2018





	1. aomine/kise: on the shores, i wait for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TIME: 1878  
> PLACE: by the shores of lake biwa
> 
> a donten ni warau au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt [here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/7464.html?thread=183592#cmt183592)

Kise looks the same as he ever does, smiling and laughing even under these cloudy skies. Aomine has dreamed of him for years now, always smiling, standing at the edge of the lake, flowers tucked behind his ear. Kise never looks at him in these dreams, his gaze always on the horizon, looking to a future Aomine cannot see.

 _Ryouta,_ he says.

 _You found me. You remember._ Kise’s eyes are wide, but he smiles and Aomine’s chest aches. Aomine doesn't know how he remembers all of this, the feeling of Kise disappearing in his arms, leaving behind scattered gingko leaves and a fragile slip of paper, a stark symbol on it. Laughter, ephemeral yet lingering as the skies cleared, sunlight filtering through the clouds. Kise's eyes crinkle, softening as he looks at Aomine. His gaze is unwavering, steadfast even as Aomine draws closer.

There is a Lake Biwa where the sun shines, where the water reflects light, where Aomine can see the horizon and everything is gold, gold, gold. It is a place that doesn't exist for Kise, something he might never see. But they are here again and Aomine wants Kise to see it, see a land where the sun shines and the days are brilliant and blue, to know what sun showers feel like.

Kise would be beautiful, he thinks. He always is, but Aomine wants to see him under a cloudless sky, to laugh with him, to live and love and be more than they have been. He wants more of Kise than they have been allowed. That they are here means that the wheel of fate has made another revolution, the past will repeat itself and darkness will come, but Aomine wants to think of a better future this time around, one where Kise will stay even after they have both fulfilled their duties. This time, Kise won’t disappear until he is needed again, this time Kise will get to see the sun breaking over the future they have fought for.

 _Hey Ryouta, let’s be happy this time._ Kise laughs, and Aomine thinks he is bright enough to be the absent sun when he laughs like this.

 _You’re really stupid, Daiki._ Kise’s smiling, and Aomine’s fighting the impulse to pull him closer. _Weren’t you the one who said hell was preferable to any happiness without me?_

 _I want you to be happy too._ He reaches for Kise’s hand and presses a kiss to his palm, a tender gesture for all the times he wasn’t here. Kise’s hand curves around Aomine’s cheek, but he’s looking at Aomine with certainty, the way he’d looked when he said _I’ll be waiting for you_ so many years ago.

_I’m happy with you, Daiki._


	2. kise: wishmaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TIME: June 18  
> PLACE: making a wish, somewhere
> 
> happy birthday to one of my darlings <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt [here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/7464.html?thread=423464#cmt423464)

at three, his sisters introduce the concept of wishmaking to him. _you can wish on anything,_ they tells him. _wish on a star, a dandelion, a rainbow._ so ryouta makes his first wish on the glimmer of sun against his mother's favourite vase, full of flowers his father buys for her regularly.

he learns about birthday wishes from his parents, who tell him _blow out the candle and make a wish,_ his mother who kisses him good night later and tells him _birthday wishes are special. happy birthday my darling, i hope all your wishes come true._

he wishes for stupid things, on the strangest things. at five he wishes for godzilla to appear, at seven he wishes for a new hat. his sisters laugh at him and tell him he's cute when he tells them his wishes, but they never tell him to stop wishing.

at thirteen he wishes for a more interesting life, and fifteen he wishes he could beat aomine in a one on one, just once. aomine himself could be something ryouta wished for, dragging ryouta into a whole new world with a stray basketball.

sixteen is the first birthday he spends without family, all grown up and alone in the big city. he doesn't know what to wish for, his days filled with basketball and work and school. it doesn't matter, he thinks. there's not much to wish for. if he had to make a wish, it would be for victory in the interhigh. after the interhigh, he only wishes loss wasn't so painful, but he survives it, coming out better for it.

at seventeen, there's nothing for him to wish for. he's content with his life, playing basketball with his friends. he still can't beat aomine in a one on one, but he thinks that it's fine, he's happy enough to be able play street ball with aomine and kagami, hang out with momoi and kuroko. momoi's still one heck of a shot with a basketball, he thinks it's a shame she's only a manager, because she would have made an excellent player if she stepped foot on court. she kept up with them all those years, after all.

they celebrate his birthday with him, with cake and laughter and bickering. momoi tells him _make a wish_ when he blows out the candle, and the only thing he can wish for is for them to always be like this, friends who can live and laugh together.


	3. akashi/midorima: enshrined

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TIME: sunrise  
> PLACE: at the shrine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt [here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/7464.html?thread=266536#cmt266536)

The shrine is the tallest building in the town, set apart from the rest by virtue of being on the mountainside. The steps are worn, the torii gate old but steadfast in its position, a silent sentry standing watch.

It's familiar, but it's also the first time Akashi has been here. He knows this place from dreams, or perhaps memory. He can't quite tell anymore. They blurred together, a strange summer when he was not himself. There is only longing, when he thinks of those days, like he lost something important that year.

In winter, the shrine is colder. There's no sunlight streaming in through the trees, no rustling of leaves, no grass beneath his feet. There's no one at the shrine; it's still too early. Even the sun is absent as he makes his way up the steps to the main buildings, clustered together as if they too, were cold in this winter.

There's someone there already, their head bowed in prayer, or perhaps just reverence. Akashi has never put much faith in the gods, believing more in the power of his hands. Gods are fickle, fallible where they are meant to be invincible. But perhaps there is something to be said about faith and belief, in the invisible things that tie people together, in these things that are unwavering where everything else fails.

The stranger straightens, turning to look at Akashi. "It's early to be here." he comments.

Something about him is familiar, like Akashi has met him before. A past life, a forgotten summer, a dream. He doesn't know how he knows, but some connections run deeper than memory.

"Do I know you?" he asks. The man looks briefly startled by the question, but Akashi cannot shake the feeling he knows this man.

"Perhaps."

"I feel like I should know you, or maybe I have forgotten who you are."

"Maybe you wanted to forget." he answers, the words careful. "Maybe you hid your memories somewhere you wouldn't look, because you don't believe in things like this."

"Why would I want to forget?"

"I wouldn't know. Your reasons have always been your own." He looks at the buildings, hazy in the morning mist. "Maybe you'll find your answers in there. You built this place after all."

The sun is rising as the man disappears from view, leaving Akashi to ponder the choice before him. There's a name on the tip of his tongue, waiting to be spoken. The start of remembrance.

_Midorima._


	4. akashi & midorima: i want it to be my fault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I want she said  
> a theory that explains  
> everything
> 
> Then:
> 
> I want it  
> to be my fault  
> she said  
> so I can fix it —
> 
> \- Louis Gluck, "Blue Rotonda"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt [here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/8539.html?thread=939355#cmt939355)

They meet at the shrine, the sun still absent from the sky. Winter is a cold time to be visiting shrines, much less before the sun has risen. It is a sort of tradition for both of them, an unspoken expectation to see each other here every year. Even after the events of the year, they are both still here, facing each other for the first time in months.

Midorima watches as Akashi goes through the motions of prayer. Bow, clap, ring the bell. Bow and clap again.

Prayer is seeking absolution for sins, committed knowingly or unknowingly. Prayer is beseeching protection or grace, a failsafe. Gods are fickle, and Midorima's always believed in preparing as best he can for whatever circumstances may befall him. But he could never have predicted this, the dredging up the past, all their reasons laid bare.

_We never talk about Teiko._

_There's nothing to talk about._

A lie, Midorima knows. But he lets Akashi decide when to talk about it; he's always been patient in these things. He supposes he just didn't expect it to be now, or for Akashi to be so frank.

_Let's talk about it. All of it._

After everything, Midorima still wishes it was easier to explain, to have it explained to him in a way he can understand. He wants to trace the paths, see the causality and say _see, look. Here, this is where we went wrong, this is how._

“It would be easier, if it was my fault.” he says.

“Why?”

“Then I could do something about it. I could have stopped it. Or fixed it. Something.” The words are abrupt, halting. He doesn't know if these are the right words, or if he could have done anything then. But he still feels a sense of helpless responsibility, still carrying the sins of their youth into adulthood. In the wake of the past year and all his losses, Midorima stopped to consider all his regrets up to now. He still thinks about Teiko, the way things had spiralled out of control, how helpless he had been, watching it all happen. Shot after shot from the half line, then from the free throw line, all the way to the end of the court. He thinks about the day he decided _enough, no more_ and walked away.

“You couldn't have done anything. It was hardly your fault.”

“That's not the point, Akashi.”

“I know.” Midorima studies his hands, how they have changed from those years. No more basketball calluses, no more wrapping his fingers. His nails are still neatly clipped and filed, but without the care and attention he used to do it with. How they have all changed, with the passing of the years.

“I'm sorry.” Akashi's apology is accompanied by a cold wind, like it has come to carry their regrets away. But they weigh heavy, sinking instead.

“I think we are past apologies, are we not?” Midorima asks.

“Perhaps. But it does not mean I do not owe you one.” They face each other, and Midorima thinks that perhaps this is the first time he’s seeing Akashi clearly, properly. Perhaps it is time to bury their ghosts and regrets, lay them to rest in under cold stone and snow.

“Thank you.” Perhaps one day, he will forgive himself and Akashi this as well.


	5. aomine/kuroko: a list of facts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t get to come back from this.  
> I never get to be the person I was before I met you.  
> (Or didn’t meet you.)  
> She sat by the phone but I got on the plane  
> and there’s no coming back from that.  
> There are some things you never get to be again.  
> \- Trista Mateer, "Observations After the Fact"
> 
>  
> 
> can also be read as akashi/midorima

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt [here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/8539.html?thread=939611#cmt939611)

fact: you were someone else when you met him. he was the catastrophe you could not have predicted, the collapse of a city on you, the earth opening up to swallow you, the sea overflowing to sweep you away. the burning brilliant star coming to a shaking, shuddering halt, with you as ground zero.

fact: there is no turning back from someone changing you like this. you only understand they have left an impact, the smouldering remains of a falling star. the landscape is now changed, you will never look at things the same.

fact: you never really believed in fate until you met him. if there was such a thing as a fated meeting, then meeting him would have been it. maybe you're wrong, maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe you just want to believe that it was fate.

fact: you don't get to come back from this. you don't get to be who you were before him. you don't get to say “i don't know him,” or “he's not important,” anymore. you don't know how to go back anymore.

fact: you've never realised how it was to have something so important before, that you could divide your life into a before and after, with him at the center of it, the catalyst that changed everything.

fact: you wished he could always have been that important to you, and you to him. once upon a time, you looked to him as someone who understood you. you don't anymore, but you did.

fact: some days you wake up and you want to say “i love him.” present tense. now, right now. maybe you do, or maybe you only love the idea of him that you had. maybe you never really loved him at all.

wish: you want him to see how much he has changed, how irreparably, irrevocably changed you are. you want him to take responsibility for it, unmake the person he's turned you into so you can go back to a before. or maybe you don't, you just want him to acknowledge the aftermath, to see the wreckage that meeting him has left carved into you.

another wish: you wanted to be right. you wanted to be right when things went wrong, you wanted to be right when you looked at all the pieces and thought _maybe we can still fix this._ you weren't, but dear god, you wished you had been.


	6. aomine/kise: don't hurt me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Image Description: you can do whatever you want to me, but don't hurt me.]
> 
> prompt [here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/11674.html?thread=2052762#cmt2052762)

you first meet aomine daiki by accident. he is only human, but he treats you like you are nothing special, only someone to laugh with and smile at. you are only kise, and sometimes ryouta. you are not a falling star given form, you are not something to be coveted, to be gawked at.

this is how you fall in love with him, how you learn to become human. with his hands, he remakes you; with his kisses, he breathes life into you. he makes you human, gives you the softness of one, so fragile and easily broken. 

you learn to love it.

you do not forget how to love him even after he is gone, the first time. stars burn for millions of years; you will find him again.

you learn he can love someone who is not you. he looks at her the way he once looked at you. somehow, you never thought he would look at someone else that way, that he could look at someone else that way.

if you stop to measure the hurt, it is enough for a lifetime, maybe two. but you are resilient, you have always been. you will pick yourself up, you will move forward. you know how to do this. you have lived so many lives now, this should be an easy enough task.

the next life when he comes to you, you forgive him. of course you do; you have never known how to be angry at him. disappointed, sad, frustrated, but never angry.

in one life, you tell him _you can do anything you want to me, but don't hurt me._ you already know he will hurt you, like you know the sun will set and rise, the world will turn. even when you are standing still, you are still moving. aomine daiki will hurt you, as long as you know him and hold him dear to you, maybe even when you don't.

he leaves you in that life to chase glory, and he doesn't come back. when you meet him again, he has forgotten. but he always forgets while you remember, and he always smiles at you the same way and you love him again. the wheel turns, you repeat the cycle.

but always, always, you look for him again. you might once been a star, but you think you have never shone as brightly as you do when he is by your side, holding you and tell you he loves you.

**Author's Note:**

> Any comments and kudos appreciated. <3 you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ewagan)


End file.
